IGIHE

Author: Publisher

  • Inspiring Rwandan Girls

    Inspiring Rwandan Girls

    {{The April Edition of Ni Nyampinga Magazine explores investiment in the girl child. This edition is themed Smarter Economics: Investing in Girls.}}

    In a bid to inspire gils, Riviera High School students were engaged in reading the latest edition of Ni Nyampinga magazine which focuses on girl economic empowerment and safe avenues for girls to access financial assets.

    In this edition, there are winning stories of girls who practice savings and entrepreneurship to develop themselves and their communities.

    The girls featured in Ni Nyampinga issue 9 are each contributing to growing the Rwandan economy.

    That’s what the girl effect is all about—when you invest in a girl, the whole country prospers. Included in this month’s issue, is Smarter Economics: Investing in Girls.}}

  • Rutaremara & Mudidi in High Court Over Land Dispute

    Rutaremara & Mudidi in High Court Over Land Dispute

    {{High profile persons including Senator Tito Rutaremara ({pictured above}) and Former Education minister Emmanuel Mudidi are involved in protracted land wrangle against a widow Isabelle Mukamudende.}}

    The land in question is a 912 Sq meters Plot located at Muhima Sector in Nyarugenge district.

    The wrangles which have been protracted for the past 12 years have triggered debates due to the persons involved.

    Widow Mukamudende is accused of illegally occupying the plot and registering it under her names.

    According to the Rukundo Emile the Lawyer representing Senator Rutaremara and Mr. Mudidi, the Plot of land belongs to his two clients.

    During the Thursday hearing,Rukundo told court that the right of ownership to the disputed Plot of land was given to both men by Nyarugenge District.

    However, According to documents presented to court, Widow Mukamudende says land title documents show she has been owner of the property since 1982.

    The appeal to the high Court follows the decision that was taken by Nyarugenge High Court in absentia of Mukamudende.

    Mukamudende’s Lawyer complained against the bias decision as it was taken in absentia of her client.

    Previously Nyarugenge High Court decided the transfer of the ownership from Mukamudende to the two men as it stated that Mukamudende has no right to that land that she also illegally registered under her name.

    Thursday Hearings saw a heated debate between two lawyers representing the interests of both parties, each one urging the court to deeply verify the matter so as to make fair decision.

    The judges adjourned the case giving the appointment of resumption on 18 April.

  • Nine Month-Pregnant Woman Lifting Weights

    Nine Month-Pregnant Woman Lifting Weights

    {{Lea-Anne Ellison ({pictured above}), the Los Angeles fitness enthusiast who triggered outrage last September when she posted photos of herself on Facebook lifting heavy weights just two weeks before her due date, has once again hit back at her ‘haters’.}}

    The 35-year-old mother of three, who gave birth to her youngest son four months ago, is back in the gym and says she, and little Skyler, are doing ‘great’.

    ‘I started back at CrossFit three weeks after my son was born,’ she tells MailOnline. ‘I did not go very hard as my body was still healing but I was so happy to be back to my program.’

    No mommy tummy here! LA native Lea-Ann Ellison hits back at critics of her exercise regime and displays her post-baby body a mere four months after the birth to little Skyler, pictured

    The trim blonde proudly reveals her post-baby body in a new series of photos with son Skyler, and there’s not a hint of a mommy tummy to be seen.

    ‘I know, for me, that keeping strong and fit during pregnancy, and eating a diet full of fresh organic food has been key to my success in gaining my figure back,’ she remarks. ‘And no sugar! Sugar will keep a mommy tummy on a lady forever!’

    According to MuscleTech.com, CrossFit entails ‘an aggressive yet well-rounded pursuit of general, overall fitness in the ten recognized domains, as opposed to the bodybuilding ideology of pursuing perfect muscle symmetry, size and cuts.’

    While many supported her decision to maintain her strenuous fitness regime, others were horrified.

    ‘She is very selfish for endangering a life for her own personal gains and achievements. This is not a proud picture to post,’ one respondent posted, as others labeled the photos ‘sickening’ and ‘worrying’.

    Andrea Nitz, a personal trainer at CrossFit Brand X, in Ramona, California has published an article for the The Crossfit Journal, addressing the question of whether the regime is safe for expectant mothers.

    ‘As many studies have shown, it’s not bad for our babies. It is actually very good for the kid,’ Ms Nitz writes.

    She goes on to speak from personal experience, writing: ‘I have seen for myself that babies born to CrossFitting moms have a number of similar traits that make for a smoother transition to life outside the womb.’

    And she may be right, if Ms Ellison’s photos of her healthy-looking, bouncing baby boy are anything to go by.

    The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists however, warns against undertaking strenuous exercise during pregnancy, saying: ‘It has been reported that pregnant women whose occupations require repetitive, strenuous, physical work (e.g. lifting) have a tendency to deliver earlier and have small-for-gestational-age infant.’

    Most medical guidelines fall somewhere in between on their advice. The Mayo Clinic warns that although a woman’s ‘tolerance to strenuous exercise will decrease’ as the pregnancy progresses, it’s perfectly safe in most cases.

    ‘Regular exercise can help you stay in shape, better cope with the physical changes of pregnancy and build stamina for the challenges ahead’

    In fact, according to a study last year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly one in four women in the U.S. are obese when they become pregnant, and the ill effects of this can be far more potentially dangerous to an unborn child.

    Complications for an obese expectant mother may include high blood pressure, gestational diabetes and potential extra difficulties during labor and birth.

    ‘Regular exercise can help you stay in shape, better cope with the physical changes of pregnancy and build stamina for the challenges ahead,’ the Mayo Clinic states.

    For Ms Ellinson, it’s been a rewarding journey and she’s thrilled to have picked up many fans and new friends along the way.

    ‘I receive fan mail every day from women saying thank you for leading the way. It has been very wonderful to see such a positive result of such an unexpected popularity,’ she concludes.

    internet

  • Ex Guinea-Bissau Leader Kumba Yala Dead

    Ex Guinea-Bissau Leader Kumba Yala Dead

    {{Former Guinea Bissau President Kumba Yala, who ruled the West African nation from 2000 to 2003, has died at the age of 61, a statement from the country’s military hospital said on Friday.}}

    A veteran of Bissau’s turbulent political scene, Yala came to power in 2000 after the country’s second multi-party election following a brief civil war in 1999.

    He was ousted in a bloodless military coup in September 2003.

    “President Kumba Yala is dead. He died around midnight during the night of April 3 of a sudden cardiopulmonary arrest,” the statement said.

    Yala’s death comes 10 days before a legislative and presidential election intended to draw a line under a 2012 military coup. He was not a contender in the election.

    agencies

  • U.N. Security Council Demands Better Darfur Peacekeeping Force

    U.N. Security Council Demands Better Darfur Peacekeeping Force

    {{The U.N. Security Council on Thursday demanded improvements in the international peacekeeping force in Sudan’s western Darfur region and called on Khartoum to improve cooperation with the mission in the remote, conflict-torn territory.}}

    The 15-nation council’s appeal came after U.N. and African Union officials sounded an alarm last week over the worsening violence in Darfur, which has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people this year.

    In a unanimously approved resolution, the council urged the U.N.-African Union mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, “to move to a more preventive and pre-emptive posture in pursuit of its priorities and in active defense of its mandate.” U.N. diplomats said that meant being more aggressive in countering threats to Darfuri civilians.

    But the resolution voiced concern about “the strategic gap in mobility for the mission, and the continuing critical need for aviation capacity and other mobility assets, including military utility helicopters for UNAMID.”

    The resolution urged U.N. member states “to redouble their efforts to provide aviation units to the mission, and on the Government of Sudan to facilitate the deployment of those assets already pledged.” Diplomats and U.N. officials say Khartoum has rejected some countries’ offers of military assets for UNAMID.

    The council also endorsed UNAMID’s plan to prioritize the protection of civilians, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, and mediating between the government and armed groups to help boost the stalled peace process.

    Dozens have been killed in Darfur in recent weeks in fighting between rebels and security forces. Critics have accused the government of war crimes and human rights abuses among ethnic minorities in the region.

    Last month the United States accused the Sudanese government of obstructing peacekeepers in Darfur, where it said civilians were being “terrorized, displaced, and killed” despite the presence of one of the world’s biggest peacekeeping missions. It also urged UNAMID to be more aggressive in implementing its mandate to protect civilians.

    ‘DIFFICULT MISSION’

    The resolution said that there were three main challenges facing UNAMID in Darfur given the difficult political and security situation – the government’s cooperation, “major shortfalls” in UNAMID troop and police capabilities and the need for better coordination in UNAMID and the U.N. country team.

    A Sudanese delegate told the Security Council that the deterioration of security in Darfur has been the result of inter-communal fighting.

    Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has stayed in power despite rebellions, U.S. trade sanctions, an economic crisis, an attempted coup and an indictment from the International Criminal Court on charges of masterminding genocide and other war crimes in Darfur.

    British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant was asked by reporters why the oft-criticized UNAMID force has failed to meet expectations.

    “It’s a difficult mission for a number of reasons,” he said. “The security situation has always been difficult, the relationship with the host government in Khartoum is difficult, it’s a hybrid mission between the U.N. and the African Union and that has proved difficult.”

    Lyall Grant added there were bureaucratic obstacles created by the government and a “fluctuating security situation on the ground with a huge number of people displaced.” He also expressed the hope that the Qatar-led Darfur peace process and Khartoum’s pledge for national dialogue would yield results.

    Law and order have collapsed in much of Darfur, where mainly African tribes took up arms in 2003 against the Arab-led government in Khartoum, which they accused of discriminating against them.

    UNAMID has been deployed in the region since 2007. During that time almost 170 of its troops and police have been killed.

    There are 14,500 troops and 4,500 police on the ground. The conflict in Darfur has killed as many as 300,000 people and displaced 2 million, according to the United Nations.

    Khartoum puts the Darfur death toll at around 10,000.

    reuters

  • U.N. Says Chadian Army Killed 30 Civilians in CAR

    U.N. Says Chadian Army Killed 30 Civilians in CAR

    {{Chadian soldiers killed 30 civilians and seriously wounded more than 300 in an indiscriminate attack on a market on March 29 in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, a spokesman for the U.N. human rights office said on Friday.}}

    Rupert Colville, reporting on a preliminary investigation that had interviewed survivors, said a convoy of pick-up trucks from Chad’s regular army, not part of an African Union peacekeeping force, entered the market and started firing in all directions.

    The attack appeared to have stopped when Congolese peacekeepers arrived on the scene, he said.

    Previously local officials and aid workers had put the death toll at least 10, with 30 wounded.

    {reuters}

  • U.S. Warns China Not to Try Crimea-Style Action in Asia

    U.S. Warns China Not to Try Crimea-Style Action in Asia

    {{China should not doubt the U.S. commitment to defend its Asian allies and the prospect of economic retaliation should also discourage Beijing from using force to pursue territorial claims in Asia in the way Russia has in Crimea, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.}}

    Daniel Russel, President Barack Obama’s diplomatic point man for East Asia, said it was difficult to determine what China’s intentions might be, but Russia’s annexation of Crimea had heightened concerns among U.S. allies in the region about the possibility of China using force to pursue its claims.

    “The net effect is to put more pressure on China to demonstrate that it remains committed to the peaceful resolution of the problems,” Russel, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

    Russel said the retaliatory sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States, the European Union and others should have a “chilling effect on anyone in China who might contemplate the Crimea annexation as a model.”

    This was especially so given the extent of China’s economic interdependence with the United States and its Asia neighbours, Russel said.

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, asked about Russel’s comments, said he was confusing two different issues.

    “No matter whether the Ukraine issue or the South China Sea issue, China has many times expressed its position. Why must this U.S. official mention the two issues in the same breath, and obstinately say these things about China?” Hong told a daily news briefing on Friday.

    Russel added that while the United States did not take a position on rival territorial claims in East Asia, China should be in no doubt about Washington’s resolve to defend its allies if necessary.

    “The president of the United States and the Obama administration is firmly committed to honoring our defense commitments to our allies,” he said.

    While Washington stood by its commitments – which include defense treaties with Japan, the Philippines and South Korea – Russel said there was no reason why the rival territorial claims could not be resolved by peaceful means.

    He said he hoped the fact that the Philippines had filed a case against China on Sunday at an arbitration tribunal in The Hague would encourage China to clarify and remove the ambiguity surrounding its own claims.

    Russel termed the deployment of large numbers of Chinese vessels in its dispute with the Philippines in the South China Sea “problematic” and said that Beijing had taken “what to us appears to be intimidating steps.”

    “It is incumbent of all of the claimants to foreswear intimidation, coercion and other non-diplomatic or extra-legal means,” he said.

    In Asia, China also has competing territorial claims with Japan and South Korea, as well as with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan in potentially energy-rich waters.

    Obama is due to visit Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines from April 22, when he is expected to stress his commitment to a rebalancing of U.S. strategic and economic focus towards the Asia-Pacific region in the face of an increasingly assertive China.

    reuters

  • VKontakte “Facebook of Russia” Sued

    VKontakte “Facebook of Russia” Sued

    {{Social network VKontakte (VK) – dubbed the “Facebook of Russia” – is facing legal action from the recording industry.}}

    Sony, Universal and Warner Music have each filed a case accusing the site of “large-scale” copyright infringement.

    The action has been coordinated by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (Ifpi), which represents record labels worldwide.

    VK has not responded to the BBC’s request for comment.

    The labels have accused VK, the second biggest social network in Europe, of creating a “huge library” of music it does not have the rights for and offering it as a service within its site.

    The labels are seeking a court order in Russia to make VK to remove a number of files from its service.

    In a statement announcing the action, Ifpi chief executive Frances Moore said:”We have repeatedly highlighted this problem over a long period of time.

    “We have encouraged VK to cease its infringements and negotiate with record companies to become a licensed service.

    “To date the company has taken no meaningful steps to tackle the problem, so today legal proceedings are being commenced.”

    {{‘Notorious’}}

    The labels argue that the popularity of VK, and the existence of the music library, make it difficult to set up a legal service in Russia.

    “This is an action which can benefit the whole music industry in Russia,” said Leonid Agronov, chief executive of the National Federation of the Music Industry, a Russian trade body for the recording industry.

    VK has been on the radar of copyright holders for some time – the US Trade Representative’s annual report into “notorious markets” has highlighted VK as a problem for the past four years.

    In November 2012, VK was found guilty by the Russian Supreme Court of distributing unlicensed music belonging to the Gala Music Group.

    That decision followed Russia’s joining of the World Trade Organisation – a requirement of which was to tighten up its copyright laws and enforcement.

    This latest action comes at a time of instability at VK.

    On 1 April, the site’s founder, Pavel Durov, announced he was to leave the company, but later rescinded his resignation – suggesting it was an April Fool’s joke.

    His resignation note – even if a prank – touched on a delicate issue for VK. Recent shareholder changes have led many to suggest the site is now closely controlled by the Kremlin, and has been under pressure to remove posts supporting Ukraine.

    {VK founder Pavel Durov has rescinded his resignation – saying it was an April Fool’s prank}

    wirestory

  • Women’s WT20: England v S Africa

    Women’s WT20: England v S Africa

    {{England bowl out South Africa for 101 in the Women’s World Twenty20 semi-final.}}

  • CIA Brutality Details to Be Released

    CIA Brutality Details to Be Released

    US Senate Intelligence Committee has voted to recommend declassification of part of its report into “brutal” interrogation methods used by the CIA when questioning terror suspects.

    But officials say it will be some time before the summary is made public.

    Leaked parts of the report said that the CIA often misled the government over its interrogation methods when George W Bush was president.

    The CIA disputes some of the findings, saying the report contains errors.

    Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein said that it had voted 11-3 to declassify what she called the “shocking” results of the investigation.

    “The report exposes brutality that stands in stark contrast to our values as a nation. It chronicles a stain on our history that must never be allowed to happen again. This is not what Americans do,” the California Democrat said.

    Correspondents say that while some of the committee’s Republicans voted with the Democrats in favour of declassifying the report, it was clear there were bitter divides within the panel.

    Georgia Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss said that while he voted for the report’s declassification “to get it behind us”, it was still “a waste of time”.

    A statement released by Ms Feinstein said that the report highlighted “major problems” with the CIA’s management of its secret Detention and Interrogation Programme, which involved more than 100 detainees.

    “This is also deeply troubling and shows why oversight of intelligence agencies in a democratic nation is so important,” the statement said.

    “The release of this summary and conclusions in the near future shows that this nation admits its errors, as painful as they may be, and seeks to learn from them.

    “It is now abundantly clear that, in an effort to prevent further terrorist attacks after 9/11 and bring those responsible to justice, the CIA made serious mistakes that haunt us to this day.”

    The statement said that the full 6,200-page report – which took five years to compile – has been updated and will be declassified at a later time.

    It said that the executive summary, findings and conclusions – which total more than 500 pages – will be sent to President Barack Obama for declassification review and subsequent public release.

    Leaks of the report in the Washington Post on Tuesday said that the CIA used secret “black sites” to interrogate prisoners using techniques not previously acknowledged.

    These included dunking suspects in icy water and smashing a prisoner’s head against a wall.

    Officials said that the CIA’s interrogation programme yielded little useful intelligence and was not helpful in the hunt for al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden or anything else of value.

    BBC